State of the Troop June 2013

To: Westminster Troop 197 Community

Date: June 4, 2013

Re: Status of the Troop

Dear families and friends of Troop 197,

As the 2013 school year comes to a close, I want to take a moment to wish you and your family a great summer as well as share my thoughts as we end what has been a momentous year for our troop.

New achievements this year include the creation of Venturing Crew 197, which is set to begin in the fall of 2013, and which permits both boys and girls the opportunity to benefit from Scouting. This year also marked the creation of a Patrol Leader Council to demonstrate and encourage leadership at the scout level. Perhaps the most telling of all the achievements is the awarding of the Gold Level status (the highest attainable) of the "Journey to Excellence" program by the Atlanta Area Council. Journey to Excellence is a Boy Scouts of America recognition program designed to reward success and measure the performance of units.

But what I am personally most proud of are the 3,100 documented service hours the scouts provided to the community this past year. This number doesn't include the many undocumented service hours performed by scouts at local shelters, food banks, and churches, but only those hours spent on Eagle projects and fundraising efforts where each scout's time was recorded. To provide some perspective, a full time employee working 50 weeks a year at 40 hours per week (two weeks of vacation), works 2,000 hours per year. Thus, the scouts of Super Troop 197 provided service to the community of one and one half full time employees for one year.

So, what do service hours actually accomplish? Well to be honest, I didn't have a full perspective of this myself until I attended an Eagle providing a wilderness camping experience to the inner city Boys and Girls Clubs of Atlanta. It is a bare bones camp with very limited facilities compared to those our scouts typically attend. The camp gives inner city youth the opportunity to experience the wilderness and provides a positive outdoor experience at a very reasonable cost. As I toured the camp last month, plaques recognizing Eagle projects performed by scouts from Troop 197 over the past several years were pointed out to me... at the trailheads, on picnic tables, at benches set up as outdoor meeting facilities, on decks, beside steps which were constructed to access a raft put-in on the Broad River, at a rebuilt archery range, etc.; all projects funded and constructed by scouts from Troop 197. On the last morning of our campout, the Camp Director thanked our scouts for their continued participation with the camp and she pointed out that each of these projects is expected to benefit over 20,000 boys and girls who will attend the camp in coming years. And amazingly, this is just one of 14 organizations which benefited from an Eagle project organized and funded by Troop 197 scouts this past year.... way to go scouts!

As we take stock of past achievements and as we look ahead to the future, know that the scoutmasters and committee members are working to provide the best Scouting experience possible for these young men, and soon, with the start of the Venturing program, young women. We are dedicated to ensuring that these are scout led programs, not parent led programs, and the Patrol Leader Council is a great step toward
achieving this goal.

While there have been growing pains over the past two years, the parents and leaders have stepped up their participation. The troop has historically been blessed to have an assistant scoutmaster overseeing each of the six scouting ranks. This past year we felt the need to add additional scoutmasters, and we now have multiple, 2 or 3, assistant scoutmasters overseeing each rank. Over the summer we will be working to revise our procedures for scheduling and holding Scoutmaster Conferences and Boards of Review. With 91 registered scouts, a single rank advancement by each scout each year will require 91 Scoutmaster Conferences and 91 Boards of Review. As a result, we may be seeking more parental help with Boards of Review. We will also be discussing camping policies and procedures related to the recent National BSA policy change.

At the Court of Honor a few weeks back, I discussed some additional accomplishments achieved over the past year. Please take a moment to look over the "Summary of Accomplishments" following this email which details some of these achievements and which illustrates that the Westminster Scouting program truly lives up to the name "Super Troop"!

As a troop, we enter our 23rd year undeniably healthier and stronger than we have ever been. As we leverage our collective strength, I have absolutely no doubt that the combinations of the scouts, the scoutmasters, and the parents, will make 2013-2014 another great year. Thank you for your continued participation and commitment to the young men of Super Troop 197. Enjoy the summer break!

Best;

Rudy Tarrer
Committee Chair
BSA Troop 197

TROOP 197

Accomplishments 2012- 2013

Troop 197 has 91 registered Scouts with 17 dedicated uniformed leaders. Scout rank advancement is outstanding, the camping program rivals any troop in the Atlanta Area Council, and the uniformed scoutmasters who work with the scouts are all dedicated professionals.

This past year, the troop was awarded the Gold Level status (the highest attainable) of the "Journey to Excellence" program. Journey to Excellence is a Boy Scouts of America recognition program designed to reward success and measure the performance of units. To achieve this level, the troop demonstrated superior performance in rank advancement, retention of existing scouts, growth in number of new scouts, trained leadership, excellence in camping, usage of the patrol method, extensive service projects, as well as several other factors. Through the application process it became readily apparent that Troop 197 is truly deserving of the name "Super Troop".

At the beginning of the year, Dr. Krupczak instituted a "Patrol Leaders Council" whereby the scouts in leadership positions meet each week to discuss the goals and activities for the upcoming meeting, campouts, etc. This is the foundational group through which our ultimate vision of "Boy Led" will be achieved.

To expand the benefits of Scouting to not only include boys, but now also to include girls, we are happy to announce the creation of Venturing Crew 197. Membership in Venturing Crew 197 will be open to young men and women age 14 to 20 who are interested in experiencing leadership, high adventure, and just having fun. It is our vision that Crew 197 will be the leading youth development program for teenagers in the Atlanta area. Crew meetings will begin in fall of 2013. For more information on Venturing, please visit the following links:

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/marketing/pdf/02-340.pdf

The Troop Committee created a "Troop 197 Legacy Account" with the Atlanta Area Council. This account is a 5013C tax exempt fund designed to serve deserving scouts and other scouting related needs in the community. The funds in this account are Troop 197 directed, so as needs arise, the troop can raise money, tax free, to go directly toward those needs.

Working in conjunction with Atlanta Area Council staff members, two scouts were identified and recruited from other Atlanta Area Council Troops to attend Philmont High Adventure Base with Troop 197 Crews. The costs for these trips were funded through the previously mentioned Legacy Account and our annual Camp Card fundraiser.

The troop covered the costs to install two flagpoles to benefit our Chartered Organization, The Westminster Schools. The flagpoles were installed in the Summer Camp area of the Westminster campus.

Over the summer, the members of the troop are again attending two summer camps and a high adventure camp.

The Troop performed 3,100 documentable service hours to the community this past year. (See discussion in letter.)